Discussion Topic

How fitting a piece, Rich. Are you sure you are a math professor? I did not know Kevin as well as you did, but find myself thinking of him riding his bike out to the cliffs most times when I drive up the hairpin turn below the Trapps.

I swear, if I read one more lame ass, half assed self promoting article by a Bisharat or the same ol same ol from Samet, I'm canceling everything but Alpinist and starting my own rag."

Thanks for the kind words, but let's remember those guys have to churn something out every month. We'd use up our best stories in probably less than a year and then we'd have to start faking it. Start your own rag and you too will confront this problem...

Hilarious story, Rich! Thanks for sharing it. What tickles me most is your collective faith in Jim's finger strength! Likely the only time that he was the weak link in any endeavor! Somewhere between extreme gymnastics and circus arts it could have opened up a wholly new category in Accidents in North American Mountaineering! LOL

A cursory web search suggests that this stunt is really unique. It doesn't seem that anyone else can hold these, although there are some videos of guys pulling up into them. At any rate, there can't be more than a very few people, besides Gill, who can do 'em.

Really Curt? I never saw it, and I spent quite a bit of time doing stupid tricks with Keven. But I'll certainly take your word for it; Kevin was very strong at iron crosses, and that lateral levering strength is a necessary component for the one-arm front lever.

While looking (in vain) on the web for evidence that anyone else can hold a one-arm front lever, I did come across a feat of strength beyond anything I saw Gill do: the one-arm rope climb.

I don't know if you ever visited Kevin and Barb while they were in Custer, but he had a 4x4 cantilevered from his counter top, from which Mark Jacobs and I both saw Kevin hold a one-arm front lever. Very impressive--although Gill's front lever (Gill being about 9 inches taller) was probably even more impressive.

Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous, this shot of me doing a straddle front lever, provides mute commentary, compared to the perfection of the earlier Gill photos, on the ravages of time.

Photo: Steve Molis

My excuse for the far less than ideal form and the straddle leg position is that the shot was taken yesterday on my 66th birthday and I'm lucky not to be spending my time in more or less the same position six feet under.